This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
09/24/2019 12:00 AMAfter updating some outdated language related to soliciting and traveling vendors in August, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) on Sept. 16 approved further specifics to regulate food trucks, door-to-door salespeople, and other street vendors.
The ordinance update, which was passed Aug. 5, mostly focused on modernizing the laws that were last updated in the 1960s, according to Guilford Police Chief Jeff Hutchinson. Also added were fee waivers for veterans and an appeals process for vendors who are denied or have their licenses revoked.
The ordinance also allowed the future addition of more specific rules and guidelines to be approved “as the board deems public welfare requires and as otherwise in compliance with laws.” These new rules are intended to more specifically spell out broad ideas in the ordinance, Hutchinson said, and do not have to go through a public hearing process.
Hutchinson said that the additions are mostly common sense and help the police department ensure vendors are not causing issues with the regular operation of the town and its citizens.
“It really codified some of the regulations that we wanted to implement to make sure that we allow people to do their peddling and soliciting, but at the same time don’t interfere with everybody else,” said Hutchinson.
The new rules and regulations include setting out restrictions on music or sound systems, blocking sidewalk space, and requiring vendors to provide their own method of disposing garbage.
Discussions about regulating food trucks and street vendors began about three years ago when Hutchinson and Town Attorney Pam Millman took questions at a public hearing in response to some resident complaints. Food trucks around the green and at the beaches were a focal point of the concerns.
Some issues, such as fees for licenses and trucks operating on certain roads are regulated by the state and therefore cannot be modified by the town, Hutchinson said. Certain areas are also regulated under different auspices, Hutchinson said, with the green being the most notable example.
No one is allowed to sell or set up any kind of booth or cart on the green itself without a specific, limited permit granted by the BOS, Hutchinson said. Parking a truck along the street is protected by state law, however, and while the town can place some restrictions on their operation, it cannot outright ban food trucks from parking in Guilford.
Another rule that was approved is restricting trucks and vendors near school property, which Hutchinson said was another commonsense idea that is now spelled out in the town’s ordinances.
“The hard and fast rule is: Think about the high school, you don’t want a vendor parked next to the high school so kids are running out to go buy their tacos or ice creams,” said Hutchinson.
The superintendent of schools has the authority to allow vendors to operate on actual school property, for fundraisers or other purposes, Hutchinson said.
Similarly, the BOS controls parking lots near the town’s beaches, but the beaches themselves fall under the control of Parks & Recreation, which can grant permits or enact different regulations.
Other nominal changes include exempting anyone under the age of 18 from needing a permit, which allows students or local girl and boy scouts to run fundraisers without having to pay for a license.
Hutchinson emphasized that the update was only to codify the practice, and that the police had not required licenses for minors in the past.
“We weren’t bagging kids for selling Girl Scout cookies,” he said.